diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.spec.ts b/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.spec.ts
index 04b659b1..47a84645 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
-import { detectMention, escapeHtml, extractContent, renderBody } from './mention';
-import type { MentionDTO } from '$lib/types';
+import {
+	detectMention,
+	escapeHtml,
+	extractContent,
+	renderBody,
+	renderTranscriptionBody
+} from './mention';
+import type { MentionDTO, PersonMention } from '$lib/types';
 
 // ─── escapeHtml ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
@@ -161,3 +167,144 @@ describe('renderBody', () => {
 		expect(result).not.toContain('\n');
 	});
 });
+
+// ─── renderTranscriptionBody ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+describe('renderTranscriptionBody', () => {
+	const auguste: PersonMention = {
+		personId: '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000',
+		displayName: 'Auguste Raddatz'
+	};
+	const hans: PersonMention = {
+		personId: '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440001',
+		displayName: 'Hans'
+	};
+
+	it('returns empty string for empty input', () => {
+		expect(renderTranscriptionBody('', [])).toBe('');
+	});
+
+	it('returns escaped plain text when no mentions', () => {
+		expect(renderTranscriptionBody('Hello world', [])).toBe('Hello world');
+	});
+
+	it('escapes < and > in plain block text', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('<script>alert(1)</script>', []);
+		expect(result).toBe('&lt;script&gt;alert(1)&lt;/script&gt;');
+		expect(result).not.toContain('<script>');
+	});
+
+	it('escapes & in plain block text', () => {
+		expect(renderTranscriptionBody('AT&T', [])).toBe('AT&amp;T');
+	});
+
+	it('replaces @DisplayName with anchor link to /persons/{personId}', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Brief an @Auguste Raddatz vom Mai', [auguste]);
+		expect(result).toContain(`<a href="/persons/${auguste.personId}"`);
+		expect(result).toContain('class="person-mention"');
+		expect(result).toContain(`data-person-id="${auguste.personId}"`);
+		expect(result).toContain('>Auguste Raddatz</a>');
+	});
+
+	it('strips the @ prefix from rendered link text (read mode)', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Hallo @Auguste Raddatz!', [auguste]);
+		// The anchor body is the bare display name — no leading @
+		expect(result).not.toMatch(/>@Auguste Raddatz</);
+		expect(result).toMatch(/>Auguste Raddatz</);
+	});
+
+	it('removes the trigger @ from the surrounding text (no orphan @ before the link)', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Brief an @Auguste Raddatz vom Mai', [auguste]);
+		// No bare @ remains where the mention was
+		expect(result).not.toMatch(/@<a/);
+	});
+
+	it('replaces all occurrences of the same mention', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('@Auguste Raddatz und @Auguste Raddatz', [auguste]);
+		const anchorCount = (result.match(/<a /g) ?? []).length;
+		expect(anchorCount).toBe(2);
+	});
+
+	it('does not replace plain-text occurrences without the @ trigger', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Auguste Raddatz war hier', [auguste]);
+		expect(result).not.toContain('<a ');
+		expect(result).toBe('Auguste Raddatz war hier');
+	});
+
+	it('processes longer displayNames first to avoid prefix shadowing', () => {
+		const augusteShort: PersonMention = { personId: 'p-short', displayName: 'Auguste' };
+		const augusteLong: PersonMention = {
+			personId: 'p-long',
+			displayName: 'Auguste Raddatz'
+		};
+		// Sidecar order is short-first; longer match must still win for the long text
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('@Auguste Raddatz schreibt @Auguste', [
+			augusteShort,
+			augusteLong
+		]);
+		expect(result).toContain('href="/persons/p-long"');
+		expect(result).toContain('href="/persons/p-short"');
+		// The "Raddatz" suffix must not leak inside the short-name anchor
+		expect(result).not.toMatch(/>Auguste<\/a> Raddatz/);
+	});
+
+	it('does not match @ followed by extra word characters (word boundary)', () => {
+		// Sidecar contains "Hans"; text contains "@HansMüller" — no link.
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Brief an @HansMüller', [hans]);
+		expect(result).not.toContain('<a ');
+		expect(result).toContain('@HansM');
+	});
+
+	it('first-sidecar-wins when two entries share the same displayName', () => {
+		// Two persons named "Hans" — first sidecar entry wins for all occurrences.
+		const hansFirst: PersonMention = { personId: 'p-first', displayName: 'Hans' };
+		const hansSecond: PersonMention = { personId: 'p-second', displayName: 'Hans' };
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('@Hans und @Hans', [hansFirst, hansSecond]);
+		expect(result).toContain('href="/persons/p-first"');
+		expect(result).not.toContain('href="/persons/p-second"');
+		const anchorCount = (result.match(/<a /g) ?? []).length;
+		expect(anchorCount).toBe(2);
+	});
+
+	it('escapes HTML in displayName to prevent stored XSS', () => {
+		const xss: PersonMention = {
+			personId: 'p-xss',
+			displayName: '<script>alert(1)</script>'
+		};
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Hi @<script>alert(1)</script> there', [xss]);
+		expect(result).not.toContain('<script>');
+		expect(result).toContain('&lt;script&gt;');
+	});
+
+	it('escapes <img onerror=...> payloads in surrounding block text', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('<img src=x onerror=alert(1)> hello', []);
+		expect(result).not.toContain('<img');
+		expect(result).toContain('&lt;img');
+	});
+
+	it('does not double-encode HTML-entity-already-encoded payloads', () => {
+		// `&amp;lt;script&amp;gt;` is already-escaped HTML in the source text.
+		// renderTranscriptionBody must escape the literal & once → `&amp;amp;lt;...`
+		// — never silently decode pre-escaped entities.
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('text &amp;lt;script&amp;gt;', []);
+		expect(result).toBe('text &amp;amp;lt;script&amp;amp;gt;');
+	});
+
+	it('escapes quotes in displayName so they cannot break the href attribute', () => {
+		const tricky: PersonMention = {
+			personId: 'p-quote',
+			displayName: 'O"Brien'
+		};
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('@O"Brien', [tricky]);
+		// The raw `"` from the displayName must never appear inside the rendered link
+		// — it would terminate the attribute value early and let an attacker craft
+		// arbitrary attributes on the anchor. It must arrive at the browser as &quot;.
+		expect(result).toMatch(/>O&quot;Brien<\/a>/);
+		expect(result).not.toMatch(/>O"Brien<\/a>/);
+	});
+
+	it('renders nothing when mentionedPersons is undefined-empty and no @ triggers', () => {
+		const result = renderTranscriptionBody('Plain old transcription text.', []);
+		expect(result).toBe('Plain old transcription text.');
+	});
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.ts b/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.ts
index 8b91bc1c..321533b0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/utils/mention.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { MentionDTO } from '$lib/types';
+import type { MentionDTO, PersonMention } from '$lib/types';
 
 /**
  * Given the current textarea value and cursor position, returns the
@@ -62,6 +62,50 @@ export function escapeHtml(str: string): string {
 		.replaceAll("'", '&#39;');
 }
 
+function escapeRegExp(str: string): string {
+	return str.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Renders a transcription block's text segment as safe HTML for read mode.
+ *
+ * Rules:
+ * 1. The full text is HTML-escaped first (defense against stored XSS).
+ * 2. For each entry in `mentionedPersons`, every `@DisplayName` occurrence is
+ *    replaced with `<a href="/persons/{personId}" class="person-mention" …>DisplayName</a>`.
+ *    The `@` prefix is stripped from the rendered link text — it is an editor
+ *    affordance, not part of the historical text (issue #362).
+ * 3. Longest displayNames are processed first so a short prefix in the sidecar
+ *    cannot shadow a longer match in the text (e.g. `@Auguste` vs `@Auguste Raddatz`).
+ * 4. Word-boundary lookahead prevents `@Hans` from matching `@HansMüller`.
+ * 5. First-sidecar-wins for entries that share a displayName (deterministic
+ *    rule per Felix decision OQ-1, comment #5339).
+ */
+export function renderTranscriptionBody(text: string, mentionedPersons: PersonMention[]): string {
+	if (!text) return '';
+	let escaped = escapeHtml(text);
+
+	const seen = new Set<string>();
+	const unique: PersonMention[] = [];
+	for (const mention of mentionedPersons) {
+		if (seen.has(mention.displayName)) continue;
+		seen.add(mention.displayName);
+		unique.push(mention);
+	}
+
+	const sorted = [...unique].sort((a, b) => b.displayName.length - a.displayName.length);
+
+	for (const mention of sorted) {
+		const escapedDisplayName = escapeHtml(mention.displayName);
+		const escapedPersonId = escapeHtml(mention.personId);
+		const pattern = new RegExp(`@${escapeRegExp(escapedDisplayName)}(?![\\p{L}\\p{N}])`, 'gu');
+		const link = `<a href="/persons/${escapedPersonId}" class="person-mention" data-person-id="${escapedPersonId}">${escapedDisplayName}</a>`;
+		escaped = escaped.replace(pattern, link);
+	}
+
+	return escaped;
+}
+
 /**
  * Renders a comment body as safe HTML:
  * 1. Escapes all HTML-special characters in the raw content